Re: Word for Mac

I also use 2011 Word for Mac. For me, the only disadvantage of the Mac version compared to the PC version is that there is no side-by-side comparison for different versions of the same document. It's not a big deal to open another document and scroll both, but it was a feature I used a lot on my old Dells.

Re: Word for Mac

I'm on my second Mac and I've always used Office for Mac -- currently Office 2011. The only glitch I've run into on either version is the inability to print solid bullets; they always come out as open squares for me (same on my old MacBook) and no, it doesn't seem to be how I've set the bullet style.

If you do go that route, I recommend purchasing Office 2011 for Macintosh, which is basically a hard-copy manual, and very useful. FWIW, I still refer now and then to the Word manual I got when I moved from a Leading Edge to a Win 3.1 computer and no, it was NOT printed on papyrus.

Re: Word for Mac

I have Office 2011 on my Mac and Office 365 on my iPad, Gatz, and for the Mac I paid a one-time fee, but on my iPad I have to pay $10 a month to be able to use Word (and the other Office programs, of which PowerPoint is the only other one I use). You might need to go check out Microsoft's site to see if you can get "just" Word and if it's a one-time fee or a yearly fee.

Re: Word for Mac

Gatz, I use Pages and just convert it to a .docx file so that people with Word can read it and edit, etc. It's a bit simple, but I've been able to do everything I need to do. I struggle with headers, I have hard time getting a second page header to be different than a first page header, but other than that it has worked for me.

Your scenario from Apple sounds like a nightmare! I've debated buying Word for Mac but never have yet.

Re: Word for Mac

DKShumaker, can I ask you: Is there a way to make a Pages document anything other than white? If so, I haven't found it, and Pages Help isn't very helpful on many matters.

What I need to do is to find a way to make the Pages background color light green or blue, because these colors are much easier on my eyes, which strain quickly, even wearing glasses. When I had a PC and used Windows Word, you can just set the background color in Preferences (can't remember if it was Windows preferences or Word preferences).

Pages preferences doesn't let you do this, and neither does Mac preferences, unless I'm just missing it.Do you know?

This may sound like a trivial problem, but for someone with eye problems, it's a big deal.

Re: Word for Mac

You could create a text box in Pages (Insert --> Text box). Make sure your Inspector pane is showing (View --> Inspector). Then, click "Format" at the top. Under Style, you can select the background color of the text box. Drag the text box so it covers your entire page. Then go to Arrange --> Send to back. That should do the trick. Not sure how it will handle your adding multiple pages, and it's definitely a work-around. But it's something!

Like dkshumaker, I use Pages and just convert to .docx when sending documents to other people. It's annoying to not be able to check my formatting for agents / editors, but no one has had any problems with it. Though, to be fair, I use Scrivener for 90% of my writing, so I don't spend that much time in Pages.

Re: Word for Mac

Scrivener is amazing! Yes, it has the ability to incorporate documents with graphics and images. But it will also outline for you, let you rearrange the outline via drag and drop, open multiple panes at once, and it saves all templates and formats that you want (including background color). I would go to the Scrivener website and watch their video on it:

You can also search for "Scrivener" on these boards. I know I'm not the only member of the fan club!

Also, having just been on Scrivener's site, I see it's on sale right now for $11.99. At that price, honestly, I would just buy it! It will get you the background color you want, and then if you want to take advantage of the other features, you can. I should say, it is a bit of a steep learning curve to use it, but if you google questions, you can usually find answers, plus they have an extensive set of instructions. And I do believe, no matter what, you can always just open a brand new document and type. So you don't have to figure everything out right away.

Re: Word for Mac

Hey Gatz. I started using Pages a few years ago and like most of the features. I do just add a shape and fill in the color I want if I need to. It has a lot of advantages, and of course disadvantages. My favorite took is adding a border frame. It has made my picture books look more professional. I also use Pixelmator to create my photos, than I insert in Pages. Pixelmator has all the tools of Photoshop but is easier to me and much less expensive! I am really liking it and have created 3 picture books this way! I have to google "how to" a bit to learn new tricks on pages and numbers! Best of luck.

Re: Word for Mac

should say, it is a bit of a steep learning curve to use it, but if you google questions, you can usually find answers, plus they have an extensive set of instructions.

Also, there are books that take you through it step by step. Scrivener for Dummies was a great help to me a few years ago and there might be others by now. You can always check your local library first to see what might be helpful for you.

Re: Word for Mac

Gatz, I wondered the same thing. I think, but could be wrong, but the app for the iPad is $11.99 but the full version for Mac is $26.99. I've been debating for years if I should buy Scrivener and haven't decided if I will. . .

Re: Word for Mac

Yup. There's a command to make the writing box full screen w/o any of the bells and whistles.

Back to the download from the Scrivener site literature http://www.literatureandlatte.com/ or from the Apple store, I think downloading from Scrivener means you'll get updates faster since it takes a while for Apple to satisfy itself that it works like it should, there's no malware encoded, etc.